Tag Archives: Kavanaugh

Our new Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, has been sworn in after a highly contentious confirmation process. The majority of the media attention — Left, Right, and that which tries to limit bias — was focused on his character, as defined by — admit it — unsubstantiated allegations.* To the extent that his judicial history has been adressed, that has largely been limited to Roe vs. Wade, and to a lesser degree Second Amendment issues. For better or worse, Kavanaugh will be ruling on cases.

Update: PollDaddy keeps duplicating the 2A response for some reason. I’ve even gone back and deleted the one, and it comes back. On another poll, it deleted all my answers; I had to go back and reenter them. I think it’s time for a new poll service.

Kavanaugh responded by noting that “semiautomatic handguns and semiautomatic rifles are widely possessed in the United States” and that “there are millions and millions and millions of semiautomatic rifles that are possessed.”

“You’re saying the numbers determine common use?” Feinstein replied. “Common use is an activity. It’s not common storage or possession, it’s use. So what you said is that these weapons are commonly used. They’re not.”

“They’re widely possessed in the United States, senator,” Kavanaugh replied. “And they are, they are used and possessed.”

“And the numbers continue to grow. Between 1988 and 1997, 125 were killed in 18 mass shootings. The next decade, 1998 to 2007, 171 were killed in 21 mass shootings. And over the last 10 years, 2008 to 2017, 437 were killed in 50 mass shootings.

“That’s 89 mass shootings in the last 30 years that snuffed out the lives of more than 700 people. Additionally, many police officers killed in the line of duty are killed by assault weapons, including 1 in 5 officers killed in 2014.

But now she admits that semiautomatic firearms are not so commonly used in crime. And that’s true, looking at the firearms used in crime as a percentage of all guns, “crime guns” are perhaps just 0.0307%. The rest are used for lawful purposes like defense, hunting, target-shooting, or simply collecting.

Clearly there’s no need for a ban of devices so rarely used criminally. Thanks for noting that, Senator Feinstein.

“The signification attributed to the term Militia appears from the debates in the Convention, the history and legislation of Colonies and States, and the writings of approved commentators. These show plainly enough that the Militia comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense. “A body of citizens enrolled for military discipline.” And further, that ordinarily, when called for service these men were expected to appear bearing arms supplied by themselves and of the kind in common use at the time.“

“(f) None of the Court’s precedents forecloses the Court’s interpretation. Neither United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U. S. 542, nor Presser v. Illinois, 116 U. S. 252, refutes the individual-rights interpretation. United States v. Miller, 307 U. S. 174, does not limit the right to keep and bear arms to militia purposes, but rather limits the type of weapon to which the right applies to those used by the militia, i.e., those in common use for lawful purposes. Pp. 47–54. ”

“3. The handgun ban and the trigger-lock requirement (as applied to self-defense) violate the Second Amendment. The District’s total ban on handgun possession in the home amounts to a prohibition on an entire class of “arms” that Americans overwhelmingly choose for the lawful purpose of self-defense.“

And

“The traditional militia was formed from a pool of men bringing arms “in common use at the time” for lawful purposes like self-defense. “In the colonial and revolutionary war era, [small-arms] weapons used by militiamen and weapons used in defense of person and home were one and the same.” “

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Under any of the standards of scrutiny that we have applied to enumerated constitutional rights, 27 banning from the home “the most preferred firearm in the nation to ‘keep’ and use for protection of one’s home and family,” 478 F. 3d, at 400, would fail constitutional muster.”

The Supreme Court made it rather clear that common possession for lawful purpose is common use, Constitutionally speaking, Senator.

So there we have it, by Feinstein’s admission, semiautomatic firearms are rarely used in crime (as a percentage of firearms), but they are protected by the Second Amendment as interpreted bt the Supreme Court. There’s no reason to ban them, and trying would violate the Constitution. Case closed.

I’m still researching this guy. I’m not overly thrilled with some political stuff in his background. On the other hand, the LA Times says this:

Kavanaugh appears to support broader gun rights under the 2nd Amendment. In 2011, he filed a 52-page dissent when the appeals court, by a 2-1 vote, upheld a District of Columbia ordinance that prohibited semiautomatic rifles Kavanaughand magazines holding more than 10 rounds. The judges in the majority, both Republican appointees, noted that several large states, including California and New York, enforced similar laws.

But Kavanaugh said the ban on semiautomatic rifles was unconstitutional because the weapons are in common use in this country. “As one who was born here, grew up in this community in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and has lived and worked in this area almost all of his life, I am acutely aware of the gun, drug and gang violence that has plagued all of us…. But our task is to apply the Constitution and the precedents of the Supreme Court, regardless of whether the result is one we agree with as a matter of first principles or policy,” he wrote.

Maybe. But to the LAT, anything short of full support for outlawing all firearms (except, somehow, the criminals’) looks like a rabid, pro-RKBA radical.

“Brett Kavanaugh is basically John Roberts 2.0, a product of the Bush Administration and the conservative legal elite,” says Dan McLaughlin of the conservative “National Review.”

Joy. Another “conservative” who, once on the bench, acts as if wholely owned by the Democrats?

On RKBA, Kavanaugh appears to be acceptably constitutionally-minded. On other issues, like taxes, he’s weaker in terms of individual rights. We’ll simply have to wait out the confirmation process (which will be quite a circus; possibly even more so than the usual SCOTUS nomination).

Just remember that Kavanaugh has been nominated by a man who ran on a pro-RKBA platform, then directed the DOJ to regulate/ban inert plastic accessories as machine guns in crazed contrast to reality, opening the door to a “machine gun” ban on virtually every repeating firearm in existence.

If only I could ask questions of Kavanaugh in confirmation hearings.

Do words have meaning?

Will your decisions be based on the constitution as written, or as interpreted under the latest fad for imagined fairness in outcomes?

If one must demonstrate “standing” by being damaged by a law before filing suit against it, must one wait to be shot before exercising self-defense?

Does due process matter? Does due process still matter in ERPOs”?

That’s a start.

What questions would you like to hear during the confirmation?

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could use the money, what with truck repairs and recurring bills.